Chapter Text
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna had never seen natural light.
She’d read about it in books, of course. The sun crossed the sky during the day, and its light poured down to the earth below, warming the soil and making the crops grow. And at night the moon took its place, adding soft silver light to the nightscape. Humans adored the sun. Youkai worshipped the moon. Both were fantastical objects that hung in an ever-changing sky.
But for the inchling race, the sun and the moon belonged in thick, dusty scrolls, along with Issun Boushi and his Miracle Mallet. Their home, the World of Oni, sat in perpetual darkness in a vast underground cavern, the difference between ‘day’ and ‘night’ dictated by the bells ringing from the temples. The light glowing from the houses and taverns cobbled together in the centre never went out. The oni’s banquets continued at all hours, and their jeers and drunken cries echoed off the cavern roof. They didn’t seem sad that there was no moon in the sky, nor a sun to warm their backs.
But oni were different to inchlings.
Shinmyoumaru thought about the sun as she stood in Mamesuke Square – a wide patch of rock hidden behind a disused well. During the day the square was a bustling inchling marketplace, full of food and fabric and metal. At night, it became the rendezvous point for scavenger teams: the brave people inchling society relied on for resources. The place was packed, and Shinmyoumaru struggled to move without elbowing someone in the face. There were the teams clustered together, going over tactics. Carts and crates were being carried around ready for tonight’s findings, and the scavengers’ families – husbands, wives and children – lingered on the outskirts, afraid of leaving in case they never saw their loved ones again.
If the World of Oni had a sun, maybe the inchlings could grow their own food, and keep animals, and live happy lives without anyone having to die. Shinmyoumaru hoped she wouldn’t be around when the parties returned. She didn’t want to see the children crying.
She grimaced at the thought, and pulled her hood lower, hoping to cover her face. Shinmyoumaru had never visited the square alone, and not while it was so crowded. Someone might recognise her if she stuck around for too long, and who knows what would happen then. She had to find who she was looking for, then get out as fast as possible.
Shinmyoumaru saw four royal guards across the sea of people, arms crossed as they kept an eye on the crowd. They each wore thin tin armour, a bowl for a helmet, and held a sharpened chopstick as a weapon. Shinmyoumaru didn’t recognise any of them, but she smiled none-the-less. The guards would have the answers she needed.
It took a few minutes to make her way over, and once she was there she wasted no time. “Excuse me,” she said, louder than she ordinarily would in case they couldn’t hear her over the clamour. “I need to talk to my father and mother.”
“Are you lost?” asked one of the guards. The others didn’t look at her. “What do your mum and dad look like?”
Shinmyoumaru couldn’t blame them. It’d been nine years since she’d left the royal palace, and she looked young for her age. She threw back her hood, hoping her appearance would ring a few bells. “I’m Shinmyoumaru Sukuna,” she declared, “fifth daughter and seventh child of the current king and queen. I’ve been living away from the palace for the last few years, and in light of recent events I seek an audience with them.” She’d practiced the speech beforehand, and felt satisfied with how she’d delivered it.
This time the guards all turned to look at her. The one who spoke to her snorted with laughter, covering his face with a large hand. A guard on the far left, an older inchling with fuzzy grey hair, looked alarmed.
Shinmyoumaru continued. “My aunt, Kikyou Hikona, has passed away in tragic circumstances, and our household can no longer support itself. So I was hoping for-”
“Excuse me.” The older guard stepped forward, and gripped her upper arm. “Please come with me.”
“Ah, wait!” Shinmyoumaru hadn’t expected this. “You can’t just grab my arm, I’m royalty!” But he ignored her protests, and led her away from the other guards, around the other side of the well.
“Listen to me,” he snapped. “I don’t know what this aunt of yours told you, but you’re a fool if you think you can go around telling people you’re Shinmyoumaru Sukuna.”
It was true. Her aunt had warned her to never reveal her name, or linger outside their mansion for long. But her aunt was dead now, and had been for several months. Shinmyoumaru needed to talk to her parents about it. “Why not? That’s who I am!”
“If you have any sense, you’ll leave this place and go back to your aunt’s house. Don’t approach any guards and ask them to lead you to the palace. They’ll think you’re a crook trying to get in and cause havoc.”
Maybe he didn’t realise who she was. She wasn’t the most recognisable princess in the kingdom. “But if my father and mother saw me, they’d know-”
“Do you have any idea how many desperate people there are in this world? Look behind you. See all those people in the square?” He gestured with his spear. “Most of them are hungry. They’re willing to risk death if it means more food. A lot of them have lost friends and relatives to keep our society going. Some of them are bitter enough to try and get revenge. Get what I mean? For all us guards know, Your Highness, you might be yet another murderer claiming to be related to the royals, so you and your friends can assassinate them once you know where the palace is.”
“But I’m not! I’m Shinmyoumaru Sukuna!” She was horrified by the thought. “Please, I need to speak to them! As soon as they see me, they’ll know who I am, really!”
“Like I said, if you have any sense,” said the guard, “you will turn around and return home, and not try something like this again. If you’re who you say you are, and your father and mother wish to see you, they’ll come and visit your house. Don’t approach any guards, and don’t try and find out the palace’s location by yourself. And whatever you do, don’t tell anyone else that you’re Shinmyoumaru Sukuna. You’ll be arrested, or executed on the spot. Understand?” He jabbed a finger at her. “I don’t want to see you here again. I’m going to tell the others you were confused and I dealt with you. Now go home.”
Shinmyoumaru tried to respond, but the guard had already turned his back on her. He disappeared behind the well, returning to his post. Unbelievable. How could he speak to her like that, and ignore her request? That was unbelievably rude! She wanted to stamp her foot and have him punished for insolence, and maybe she would have a year earlier. But things were different now, and all she could do was stand still and feel pathetic.
*****
When Shinmyoumaru was ten years old, her days playing with her siblings amongst beautifully painted shouji screens were cut short when her nanny woke her up in the middle of the night. “Wake up and get dressed, Your Highness. Quickly, and don’t make a sound!” She was dressed, handed a small bag, then led outside through the servant’s entrance. There was a rickshaw waiting for her, and her mother – the queen – was standing beside it in her night clothes. She rushed forward, and gave Shinmyoumaru a tight hug.
“Listen, I know this is sudden,” said her mother, in that gentle, calm voice Shinmyoumaru loved so much, “but you’re going to stay with your aunt for a while. She lives in a big mansion on the other side of the kingdom, and makes beautiful clothes that everyone loves. She’s going to teach you how to sew. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Shinmyoumaru?”
Shinmyoumaru was delighted. She loved sewing, and often made little outfits for her dolls.
“You’ll be with her for a while, all by yourself, so you mustn’t cause any trouble. I’ll come and get you once it’s time for you to come home, okay? So be a brave girl and behave. Promise?”
“Of course,” said Shinmyoumaru, with a big smile on her face. The thought of being by herself with this unknown aunt (an aunt! She didn’t even know she had an aunt!) was a bit scary, but it felt exciting at the same time. Her mother hugged her again, then Shinmyoumaru was lifted onto the rickshaw with a servant, and they set off. She waved until the palace was out of sight.
The servant didn’t say anything for the whole trip, and despite the rickshaw’s shakes and bumps, Shinmyoumaru quickly fell back to sleep. When she woke up, they’d already arrived at her aunt’s mansion. It was made of two large wooden crates, and had a fence made of shoelaces around the perimeter. Two servants came out to meet them, and Shinmyoumaru was invited inside.
Her aunt Kikyou was an imposing woman: tall for an inchling, with long hair and cold black eyes. Shinmyoumaru thought she looked strict, and felt afraid. She wanted to be back in her familiar room, with her kind nanny and brothers and sisters, but the rickshaw had already left. She couldn’t go back to the palace. At her aunt’s command, Shinmyoumaru’s bag was carried to her new room, and Shinmyoumaru was put to bed in an unfamiliar futon.
And so began her new life at the mansion.
Aunt Kikyou was a woman of few words. She rarely spoke to her servants, and they all seemed to know what she wanted anyway. They would appear with the food she wanted at mealtimes, and have her outdoor clothes ready when she stood up for a walk. The only time Shinmyoumaru heard her aunt say more than a few brisk sentences was during their lessons together. Back at the palace, Shinmyoumaru had taken lessons with a wide variety of tutors alongside her brothers and sisters, but here Aunt Kikyou taught her everything by herself, from Japanese reading and writing, to mathematics and the recent history of the inchling race. She even taught Shinmyoumaru practical things, like diplomacy and how to defend herself. She gave Shinmyoumaru her own needle sword, and instructed her in the rock garden behind the mansion. After lessons, Shinmyoumaru would be allowed an hour or two to herself while her aunt met with clients and business partners. She usually spent this time reading, or practising her swordsmanship outside. Then in the evenings, they would sew together.
This was Shinmyoumaru’s favourite time of the day. They would sit opposite each other, with a huge bundle of cloth between them, and work on commissioned outfits. Aunt Kikyou made clothes for a lot of rich people in inchling society, and there was always something new to design, or alterations to be made. They created everything from funeral clothes to fashionable furisode, to shiromuku wedding kimono and baby clothes. Her aunt never told her the names of their clients, but Shinmyoumaru liked to pretend they were people she knew, like her mother, or one of her older sisters.
Shinmyoumaru made a big effort to be a brave girl, just like her mother wanted. Even when she felt home sick, or her aunt yelled at her for making a mistake, or she pricked her finger and got blood on the cloth, she never complained, and tried her best not to cry.
“We all have to start somewhere,” her aunt would occasionally mumble, and that was the closest she ever got to ‘sorry’.
Years passed. Shinmyoumaru grew from a girl to a young woman. Her fencing improved, along with her embroidery, and her aunt started letting her take charge of a few outfits by herself. Her life in the royal palace felt like a lifetime ago, and Shinmyoumaru often wondered how everyone else was doing. How were her siblings getting on? Were any of them married yet? Maybe the oldest had children by now. The thought of being an aunt thrilled her. But there was never any word from the palace. No letters, no parcels, not even on her birthday. Shinmyoumaru could only imagine.
“Being in charge is a difficult job,” her aunt told her when she asked one day. “Rest assured that you are in their thoughts.”
Previously Shinmyoumaru had never been allowed beyond the mansion grounds. The furthest she could go was the rock garden, where she would pass the time while her aunt was away. But when Shinmyoumaru turned eighteen, her aunt began letting her ride in the rickshaw with her. She had to be dressed in an oversized cloak, and was ordered to never talk to anyone, to never make eye contact with strangers, and to never leave her aunt’s side. Shinmyoumaru obeyed those rules, and in return was granted a tour of the inchling kingdom every weekend.
“This is where we get our food,” her aunt whispered as they passed Mamesuke Square for the first time. There was a busy market, full of colourful stalls and people browsing. Shinmyoumaru gasped with delight. “A servant visits every Friday and buys it for us.”
“Can I go with them?” she asked, wanting a closer look at the market.
“Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.”
Shinmyoumaru noticed two rough-looking inchling men fighting over a large scrap of meat near the road, and physically recoiled. Her aunt placed a hand on her arm, and the rickshaw rolled back to the road.
*****
Her aunt died a month after Shinmyoumaru’s nineteenth birthday.
There was nothing unusual about that day. Shinmyoumaru was working on a particularly complicated kimono, and wanted to dedicate her free time to redoing the sash. Her aunt rode in the rickshaw by herself that afternoon, accompanied by a few servants. She came back in a box. An oni had trodden on the rickshaw, and crushed her.
Most inchlings died that way. It was nothing unusual. The inchling kingdom was stretched across the World of Oni, hidden in cracks and uninhabited corners. It wasn’t uncommon for a drunk oni to stumble into an inchling area, and cause chaos. There were always casualties. The lucky got trodden on and killed instantly. The unlucky suffered horribly until a royal guard found them and put them out of their misery.
But Aunt Kikyou was a noble. She was supposed to be above such a cruel death. Shinmyoumaru’s whole world turned upside down. Distraught, she locked herself in her bedroom, and did nothing but sew and sleep for several months. She finished all the kimonos they were commissioned to make, then made her own out of the leftover fabric. Servants would come into her room with food, then beg her to take charge of the household. Shinmyoumaru had no idea what they meant by that. She didn’t want to leave her room, let alone the safety of the mansion.
She had nightmares every night about a huge, horrible foot stomping down on her, and her aunt’s disfigured body lying amongst the shattered rickshaw. Her dark eyes lacked life, and the bright red blood matted her hair. Shinmyoumaru hadn’t been allowed to see the interior of the box, so her subconscious kindly filled in the blanks, producing an image far nastier than reality could. Shinmyoumaru began to dread night time, but any attempts she made to stay awake always ended with her collapsing, or dozing off in the bath.
Time passed. When Shinmyoumaru finally felt brave enough to leave her room, she found the mansion falling apart. The servants were nowhere to be seen, and neither were the valuables nor most of the food in the larder. Everything had a thin layer of dust on it, and the clocks had stopped at random times.
Why did the servants run away and leave her? She’d known some of them for years and years. Didn’t they care about her? It took Shinmyoumaru a few hours to realise why: the servants were being paid to wait on her. It had never occurred to her before, and why would it? No one had ever told her. There was no money coming into the mansion, so they’d cut their losses and left, taking a few things along with them. When they told Shinmyoumaru to take charge of the household, they must have been asking her to earn money to pay them.
Shinmyoumaru stared at the empty rooms, and wondered what to do now.
*****
In the end, she decided to go find her parents. Shinmyoumaru had been too upset to go to her aunt’s funeral, and had no idea if the royal family had made any effort to contact her. It was faster if she learnt where they were, and visited them directly. She dressed modestly, with as many layers she could put on herself, and wore the same large cloak as always. She’d spent the last few months too terrified to leave her room, so going outside the mansion brought a whole new level of fear. But she had to be brave. After an hour, she persuaded herself to leave the front door. Then she took things slowly, one step at a time.
But in the end, no one would tell her where the palace was. The guard at Mamesuke Square sent her away with a bizarre warning, leaving Shinmyoumaru with even more questions than before. She returned to the mansion in tears, and sat in the hallway by herself until they stopped. There was no one left inside to hear her, let alone comfort her.
But this was no time for crying. She had to make the best of things, and be the brave girl her mother wanted her to be.
So Shinmyoumaru wiped her eyes, and pulled herself upright. Her stomach gurgled. It’d been a while since she’d last had a meal. Maybe there was something in the larder she could eat? Shinmyoumaru walked over to the kitchen, stepped into the storeroom and rummaged through the jars. She had no idea how to cook, and most of the leftover food looked brittle and dry. Was it edible? Only one way to find out. Shinmyoumaru chomped down on a large flake of something, and forced herself to chew. It was tough and flavourless, and hard to swallow.
How long could she keep this up for?
There was no one to wind the clocks, so Shinmyoumaru had no idea what time it was. If she hadn’t gone down to the square earlier she wouldn’t have even known it was evening. The World of Oni was dark at all hours. For some reason this felt like the most terrible thing of all. Shinmyoumaru didn’t even know when to go to sleep or wake up anymore.
But she needed to think. The clocks weren’t moving, so she had all the time in the world.
Her legs moved by themselves. She walked out of the storeroom, back through the kitchen, then into the corridor. Soon she was outside, in the rock garden. The beautiful swirls in the gravel barely held their shape now, and a few of the boulders had been dislodged. The fence made of shoelaces sagged. Shinmyoumaru sat on a boulder, and gazed at the garden. Once, in celebration of a particularly large order of clothes, her aunt had held a private picnic. They’d sat in the centre of the rock garden, using a scrap of cloth from an oni’s skirt as a sheet, and chatted. The servants had carried over dish after dish, and laid out each plate in front of them: soft rice grains, breadcrumbs, chunks of fruit the size of their fists, and a long, fat udon noodle that had to be cut up. A mouth-watering feast. She could still remember the elegant way her aunt had used her chopsticks, and how cleanly she ate.
She thought of her aunt’s mangled body in the box, and shuddered. No, she had to be strong. She wouldn’t let her happiest memories get twisted like that. Shinmyoumaru took a deep breath, and let her head rest in her hands.
When she looked up, she saw a letter poking out from underneath one of the boulders.
It couldn’t have been there for long. Shinmyoumaru was sure she would have noticed something like that. But there was no way anyone had entered the garden just now. They would’ve needed to come in through the entrance behind her, or climb over the fence. Cautiously, she stood, and picked up the letter. It was addressed to her, in handwriting she didn’t recognise.
To Her Royal Highness, Princess Shinmyoumaru Sukuna,
I am writing to inform you that I have very important information regarding the history of the inchling race. I wish to discuss it with you face-to-face. Please meet me at the place you found this letter when the bells strike five times tomorrow evening. You may bring guards or servants if you wish. I can assure you, however, that I mean you no harm.
They wanted to meet her here? Shinmyoumaru glanced around again, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sender. But even if they had been in the rock garden earlier, they weren’t there now. She turned the letter over, wondering if it continued on the other side, but the page was blank. The sender had left no signature, or any hint to their identity.
The paper felt crisp, and the ink looked fresh. There were no obvious signs of wear and tear. The letter genuinely couldn’t have been there for long.
“Don’t be stupid,” Shinmyoumaru muttered to herself. Everything was moving too fast. She needed to lie down for a bit and think through her options. Sleep felt like a good idea, so she went indoors. She checked every room in the mansion, just in case, half expecting the sender to leap out from behind the shouji screen every time she slid open a door. But she was alone in the mansion. Her needle sword felt heavy on her back, and her bare feet ached.
*****
Shinmyoumaru knew what to do as soon as she woke up. She spent the morning tidying up the mansion, and locking it up the best she could. Then once her gut feeling told her it was late afternoon, Shinmyoumaru sat in the rock garden, and waited. She’d hidden her hair under a simple bowl helmet, and wore the same cloak as yesterday. She held a needle sword in her right hand, her only ally left in the mansion. In the distance she could hear the oni taverns, the shouts and yells of drunks, and the constant murmur of voices. It’d never occurred to Shinmyoumaru before that an oni could stumble across the mansion at any moment. One kick and that would be it. They’d been living on borrowed time and she’d never noticed.
Footsteps. Someone was coming. Shinmyoumaru’s hand touched the hilt of her sword, just in case. She heard someone climb over the fence, then a figure appeared from behind the mansion. It was a man with hollow cheeks, wearing a long battered cloak. Shinmyoumaru didn’t recognise him, and gripped the sword hilt as tight as she could.
“Who are you?” she snapped. “State your name!”
“Princess Shinmyoumaru Sukuna, I presume?” His voice revealed his age, and Shinmyoumaru realised he was no older than she was. “I take it you read the letter.”
“I did, now your name, please.”
He shook his head. “My name isn’t important. I’m working on behalf of someone. They’re the person who wants to see you.”
He didn’t seem even remotely afraid of her. Shinmyoumaru glared at him, and considered raising her sword. “Then tell me their name instead.”
“It would be faster for you to meet them.” He sighed. “We need to go to Mamesuke Square. Do you know where that is?”
He was just as vague as the guards yesterday. The lack of answers annoyed her, but she couldn’t sense any threat coming from him. The man seemed tired, like he wanted to get the whole thing over with. She brushed down her cloak. “I know where that is, yes.”
“Then assuming you’re interested in what they have to say, please follow me.” He turned, and started walking back to the fence. Shinmyoumaru hesitated, then with a quick glance at the mansion, followed after him.
She expected them to take a rickshaw, but instead they walked. The man occasionally glanced back, to make sure she was still following him. Aunt Kikyou would’ve been furious, knowing she’d revealed herself to a stranger, and was now following him because she didn’t know what else to do. Shinmyoumaru knew she was completely mad for even considering this, but her gut feeling told her to keep walking. She’d thought long and hard about what to do that morning, and seeing what the sender had to say was the only concrete option she had. Shinmyoumaru had a lot of confidence in her sword technique, and figured she could cut down anyone who tried to hurt her. If the sender turned out to be a criminal, she wouldn’t hold back.
“I wouldn’t be a good kidnapping victim,” she said to the stranger, just so he knew. “There are lots of other princesses to replace me, so my family won’t pay a ransom.”
“No one’s going to get kidnapped,” said the stranger, firmly.
They reached the square at the height of chaos. The scavenger teams were about to leave, and inchlings of all ages were packed into every available space. The stranger stopped at the edge of the square, and turned to her. “I’m going to tell you now, because this’ll be your last chance to back out. The person we’re meeting is a big person.”
Shinmyoumaru squeaked, and covered her mouth. “An oni!?”
“They don’t mean you any harm, I can guarantee that. We’re going to tag along with one of the scavenger teams, for safety reasons, then I’ll lead you over to them. They only want an hour or so of your time, then I can take you back to your mansion.”
That explained a lot. Of course a big person couldn’t just stroll over to the mansion and talk to Shinmyoumaru there. Well, they could’ve, since it was just Shinmyoumaru living in it now, but they probably didn’t know that. She looked over the crowds, and realised how tense everyone in the square was. If the scavengers, all ordinary people, could go out and do something as terrifying as steal food off big people, then couldn’t she, an inchling princess, go talk to one?
She’d already come this far. Turning back wasn’t an option. “All right,” she said, “but as soon as they’re done talking to me, I’m leaving. Understand?”
The stranger nodded, lifted up his hood, and beckoned. Shinmyoumaru followed him, squeezing through the crowd. Nobody yelled or protested, and moments later there was an unmistakable surge of movement as the teams began to head out. A woman was crying far at the back. A group to the left were shouting good luck. The people in front of her drew their weapons. Shinmyoumaru lifted her needle sword, not wanting to look out of place.
The stranger stayed closed to her. Some of the people around her were chatting and joking, used to this, but luckily there were just as many saying nothing, focusing on the mission ahead. Soon they were out of the square, and ducking underneath a large rock ledge. Then the crowd split, each team going their own direction. The stranger tugged Shinmyoumaru’s cloak, and they followed the group going left. The light around them was getting brighter. She heard low, booming voices up ahead.
Then suddenly, they were in oni territory. They stood inside a dry sewage gutter, and hundreds and hundreds of towering oni were walking past. Shinmyoumaru covered her mouth, afraid she’d scream. One of them stepped extremely close, the foot pounding down with the force of a rockslide. Her aunt hadn’t stood a chance.
The stranger was yanking on her cloak again. “Hurry up!” She’d frozen in place. Shinmyoumaru regretted coming out. She wanted to turn back and run home, but that wasn’t an option. The scavenger team was edging along the kerb, sticking to the shadows. Shinmyoumaru copied them, afraid her heart was pounding so fast it’d give them away. What would happen if the oni saw them? Would they be stomped on? Eaten?
After what seemed like an eternity, the people in front of her turned left again, and they emerged from the gutter into a quiet alleyway. There were no oni in sight, and Shinmyoumaru let herself relax.
The stranger turned to her again. “We’re splitting off here,” he whispered. “Follow me.”
He left the safety of the shadows, and dashed out into the alleyway. It looked suicidal, but none of the other scavengers seemed to notice. Shinmyoumaru gathered her courage, and followed him. She felt her hair come loose beneath her helmet, and tumble down her back. They dashed behind a large crate, and moments later a group of three oni stumbled into view, clearly drunk. They cheered, and sang, and swaggered around in unpredictable movements. Shinmyoumaru glared at them. The oni weren’t looking at the ground. An inchling could die in seconds and they wouldn’t notice.
“We’re nearly there,” said the stranger, impatient. They walked behind the crate, then down another alleyway, this one too slim for an oni to enter. It opened into a wider waste area a few minutes later. There were chunks of wood piled up everywhere, and black dust that Shinmyoumaru assumed was ash.
There was a big person sitting on one of the wood piles. They wore a cloak, a big tattered thing that barely hung together, and the upper part of their face was hidden by the hood. A gold bracelet gleamed on one wrist, and an old pair of sandals hung off their feet. Shinmyoumaru braced herself. She could already imagine those sandals stomping on her.
“I brought her,” yelled the stranger, “just like you asked!”
The cloaked figure smiled. “Princess Shinmyoumaru Sukuna?”
She shouldn’t have come here. Fear overcame Shinmyoumaru, and she took a step back. She held her needle sword out in front of her, her hands shaking too hard to hold it straight.
“Now now, don’t be afraid,” said the big person, “I’m not here to cause you harm. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
Their voice was surprisingly girlish. Shinmyoumaru realised the big person was a woman, and calmed down a little. “I’m… I’m here now. What do you want?”
The figure pulled back her hood. Her black hair was flecked with white and red streaks, and two small ivory horns poked out on either side. A female youkai of some kind, most likely an oni. She looked down at Shinmyoumaru with a bright, cunning smile. “I am here to make you an offer, Your Highness.” She bowed politely. “One that I hope you will consider, and ultimately accept.”
Shinmyoumaru listened.
And the needle sword fell from her hands, and clattered to the ground.